[modthomas]

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Its best sticking with these expressways such as NH7 or 45 or 46, even though traffic you will avoid hurting the car.

@ MAverick - I'm tending to agree with you

Originally Posted by sridhar_setty

Sad to hear the damage. TVM is pure offroading experience

You should definitely look at NH7

@ Sridhar - LOL @ offroading. Wouldnt believe it till I saw it. Panruti not that much better either.

Originally Posted by ampere

I think there is no Tirukkolyilur by-pass. The girivalam path I think is only for NH66 by-pass. For Tirukkolyilur you need to get into the town, which is a sorry experience.

@ Ampere - Sorry experience is right. All towns between and including TVM to Chidambaram were differing level of nightmares.

[madhukar_n]

Road Conditions:
Blr-k'giri-vellore-kanchi-changalpetu-thindivanam
Road is fantastic upto kanchi. kanchi-chjangalpettu is ok.. motorable.
We missed the NH66 junction on NH45 and took some screwed up road to pondicherry. it was about 35 kms but there was practically no road, no people and pretty scarry as we did it in the evening...
total distance: 460 kms
total travel time: 14 hrs
break: 4.30 hrs
if we had taken the nh66 we would have save some 45 mins easily.

pondy-tindivanam-tiruvanamalli-krishnagiri-bangalore
pondy to tindivanam(nh66) is very good.
tindivanm-tiruvanamallai is ok... bad not too bad.
tiruvannamalli-k'giri is BAD !.. i had to stop every 3 kms, put to first gear and then go over those god damn pot holes.
total distance: 340 kms
total travel time: 12 hours
break: 2.45 hrs

so there is not much difference between the two time wise.. so better take the good roads...

P.S:- the distance is from yelhanka

[modthomas]

Today was better. Did Chidambaram > Tranquebar via Seerkazhi and NH45A. Much better road, although a trifle narrow in places. Seerkazhi, once again, took a while to get through. Tomorrow Kumbakonam. For the return, planning Kumbakonam > GangaikondaCholapuram > Ariyalur > Perambalur > Thuraiyur > Kannanur > Namakkal to hit NH7. Will appreciate updated road conditions and suggestions for a better route to hit the NH7 ASAP. As I understand, NH67 Thanjavur > Trichy > Karur is in bad shape and not advisable..

Originally Posted by madhukar_n

tiruvannamalli-k'giri is BAD !.. i had to stop every 3 kms, put to first gear and then go over those god damn pot holes.

It's a torture for the factory-fresh Fiat Linea 1.4 T-Jet Plus, which would have cried silently with tears. I drove my Linea on that dreaded stetch on eleventh of this month.

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by madhukar_n

Road Conditions:
Blr-k'giri-vellore-kanchi-changalpetu-thindivanam
Road is fantastic upto kanchi. kanchi-chjangalpettu is ok.. motorable.
We missed the NH66 junction on NH45 and took some screwed up road to pondicherry. it was about 35 kms but there was practically no road, no people and pretty scarry as we did it in the evening...
total distance: 460 kms
total travel time: 14 hrs
break: 4.30 hrs
if we had taken the nh66 we would have save some 45 mins easily.

pondy-tindivanam-tiruvanamalli-krishnagiri-bangalore
pondy to tindivanam(nh66) is very good.
tindivanm-tiruvanamallai is ok... bad not too bad.
tiruvannamalli-k'giri is BAD !.. i had to stop every 3 kms, put to first gear and then go over those god damn pot holes.
total distance: 340 kms
total travel time: 12 hours
break: 2.45 hrs

so there is not much difference between the two time wise.. so better take the good roads...

P.S:- the distance is from yelhanka

Yeah you would have taken the NH45 new bypass in Tindivanam, we did the same mistake but 10kms after with the help of GPS and some truck walas were able to get back en-route on the NH66.

We did the entire stretch in 7.5hrs time with 1.15hrs break time. 1 at K'giri and the other at Kanchi.

Any particular reasons for taking the NH66 all the way to Bangalore on return? 360kms 12hrs is bad real bad roads.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by modthomas

Today was better. Did Chidambaram > Tranquebar via Seerkazhi and NH45A. Much better road, although a trifle narrow in places. Seerkazhi, once again, took a while to get through. Tomorrow Kumbakonam. For the return, planning Kumbakonam > GangaikondaCholapuram > Ariyalur > Perambalur > Thuraiyur > Kannanur > Namakkal to hit NH7. Will appreciate updated road conditions and suggestions for a better route to hit the NH7 ASAP. As I understand, NH67 Thanjavur > Trichy > Karur is in bad shape and not advisable..

I think average roads till Thuraiyur and then its decent roads and not great till Namkkal. But I guess that is the best you can get.

[madhukar_n]

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Yeah you would have taken the NH45 new bypass in Tindivanam, we did the same mistake but 10kms after with the help of GPS and some truck walas were able to get back en-route on the NH66.

We did the entire stretch in 7.5hrs time with 1.15hrs break time. 1 at K'giri and the other at Kanchi.

Any particular reasons for taking the NH66 all the way to Bangalore on return? 360kms 12hrs is bad real bad roads.

no particular reason. we were in a group and other folks wanted to see tiruvanamalai temple.

[reignofchaos]

I did pondy tranquebar this weekend. I went via krishnagiri-vellore-kanchipuram-chengalpettu-mahabalipuram-pondi-cudallore-chidambaram-tranquebar.

The roads are great all the way other than 20km around kanchipuram and an odd patch or two on the pondi-cudallore stretch.

Even though the this is longer than the other roads, its not harsh on the car. I'd highly recommend this route to pondicherry and beyond compared to others.

[rangaraj]

Originally Posted by madhukar_n

Road Conditions:
Blr-k'giri-vellore-kanchi-changalpetu-thindivanam
Road is fantastic upto kanchi. kanchi-chjangalpettu is ok.. motorable.
We missed the NH66 junction on NH45 and took some screwed up road to pondicherry. it was about 35 kms but there was practically no road, no people and pretty scarry as we did it in the evening...
total distance: 460 kms
total travel time: 14 hrs
break: 4.30 hrs
if we had taken the nh66 we would have save some 45 mins easily.

pondy-tindivanam-tiruvanamalli-krishnagiri-bangalore
pondy to tindivanam(nh66) is very good.
tindivanm-tiruvanamallai is ok... bad not too bad.
tiruvannamalli-k'giri is BAD !.. i had to stop every 3 kms, put to first gear and then go over those god damn pot holes.
total distance: 340 kms
total travel time: 12 hours
break: 2.45 hrs

so there is not much difference between the two time wise.. so better take the good roads...

P.S:- the distance is from yelhanka

Did the trip two weeks ago and the onward journey through kanchipuram has one painful stretch of state highway after you go through the town of Kanchi till you get to the NH66/45. Otherwise, you can easily cruise at 100kmph right through the toll roads - approx 200 bucks one way. On the return we took the route via tiruvanamale and the stretch till Krishnagiri is ridden with potholes and frequent braking from the 60/80kmph average. Time wise and distance wise (approx 120 kms) is less. The one factor i noticed was the lack of any Cafe Coffee Day or decent places to eat/drink/clean loos other than the 3 star hotel we stopped at post tiruvanamalle. We drove right through on the onward journey without any stops - left bangalore around 8am and reached Pondy at 2:30pm on the way back, left at around 8am and had a pit stop for around 40mts and reached around 2:30pm in Bangalore.

Stayed at Promenade for one night - great buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner (their wood fired pizzas are good). Was raining the first night, so could not go to the roof top sea food restaurant which was supposed to be good. Two nights at Du Parc - average food and not so great breakfast. Two nights in Mango Hill. Great pool, but the french family that runs it have the same attitude of hotels in paris - minimal breakfast, everything extra..Romas kitchen was so so.. The Pizza place was great..

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rangaraj

The one factor i noticed was the lack of any Cafe Coffee Day or decent places to eat/drink/clean loos other than the 3 star hotel we stopped at post tiruvanamalle.

Thats a known problem on NH66. Hardly you find any decent place.
Tiruvannamalai also has a resort called Sparsha (A 5-Star) which is about 1 Km away from the road.

But yes no decent road side hotel for a break.

[kousik]

Back from Pondy yesterday via Tindivanam -- Thiruvannamalai -- Chengam -- Krishnagiri. One reason we wanted to visit the Ginjee fort on the way, though looking at the flight of steps my folks weren't too keen climbing so didn't spend time there. From hotel to home I could make it in 7 hours. Would have been 20 mins earlier because of a confusion in Thiruvannamalai, they diverted us to a bypass and we got off earlier than we should've, and then came back to Hill-round road (and jammed behind huge fanfare of Swamy Nityanand). Anyway in 5 hours I could make to it A2B at Krishnagiri, had a lazy lunch (30 mins) before the last sprint to Bangalore.

Attached is the GPS log's snapshot, you can see the comfort level in Tindivanam - Krishnagiri section (compare with first 45 mins, Pondy - Tindivanam or after 5th hour, Krishnagiri - Bangalore), I could never pick more than 60, that too for a few seconds, and slowed down back to 20 to negotiate potholes. The painful drive is really avoidable, though the length was 326km, more than 100km shorter via Kanchipuram/Vellore route. Not all NHs are created/maintained equal

[madhukar_n]

Originally Posted by ampere

Thats a known problem on NH66. Hardly you find any decent place.
Tiruvannamalai also has a resort called Sparsha (A 5-Star) which is about 1 Km away from the road.

But yes no decent road side hotel for a break.

There is one good hotel opposite bus stand in gingee. It is names Vasant Bhavan(attached hotel is Hotel shiva or something). the bfast was very good especially pongal.. it is normal darshini types.
apart from that there is no good hotel to stop.

[modthomas]

Originally Posted by modthomas

For the return, planning Kumbakonam > GangaikondaCholapuram > Ariyalur > Perambalur > Thuraiyur > Kannanur > Namakkal to hit NH7. Will appreciate updated road conditions and suggestions for a better route to hit the NH7 ASAP. As I understand, NH67 Thanjavur > Trichy > Karur is in bad shape and not advisable..

Did the route yesterday as planned.

Swamimalai/Kumbakonam to Gangaikondacholapuram was very good, the NH45C/NH227 were well maintained and even the few towns en route were decent to drive through.
GangaikondaCholapuram to Trichy : NH227 from Jayamkondam to Trichy, however, was a different story altogether. The road passes alongside several cement factories, and the sand / limestone / cement lorries caused a severely deteriorated stretch. The only saving grace was the relative absence of traffic. The status of NH should be withdrawn from this road :(
Trichy - Thuraiyur : Bypassing Trichy and hitting the SH62 to Thuraiyur was easy, SH62 till Thuraiyur was great.
Thuraiyur - Namakkal : SH30 and SH131 were just average. Definitely not as bad as the Cement stretch and nowhere near the horrors that abound in and around Tirunvannamalai, but still wasnt as good as the preceding stretch. Negotiating Namakkal town to get onto the highway wasnt as bad as I'd expected. Stopped for lunch at Kongu Hotel in town at the junction of the Thuraiyur and Salem roads, the service and food was surprisingly good.
Namakkal - Bangalore : NH7 was an outstanding stretch of road. I think nobody minds paying money for a good product. If I have a quibble it was regarding the lorries who refused to stick to the left lane in spite of struggling all over the place during the ghat sections, causing little localised traffic jams.

We got into Bangalore at roughly 6pm, which is not the best time on a Friday. Took us a solid hour and a half to get home to CV Raman NAgar from Attibele. Not much fun.

All in all, 462 km, 9 hrs including 1 hr of stoppage time and 11/2 hrs getting into Bangalore, driving at a reasonable speed all the way. Averaged diesel consumption for the i20 was 16.4 km/l.

[ajithnarasimhan]

Originally Posted by modthomas

@ MAverick - I'm tending to agree with you



@ Sridhar - LOL @ offroading. Wouldnt believe it till I saw it. Panruti not that much better either.



@ Ampere - Sorry experience is right. All towns between and including TVM to Chidambaram were differing level of nightmares.

I did this circuit yesterday. BLR to Chidambaram.(BLR-Krishnargiri-TVMalai-Tirukoilur-Panruti-Vadalur-Kurunjipadi-Bhuvanagiri-chidambaram).This time took my Bike.The car experience was not too good ( 8 hrs minimum drive).
A quick update on the route for those interested in taking this route.
BLR-Krishangiri ( needless to say, no comments on this route)
Krishnagiri-Matthur : Lots of VEHICLE breakers ( pit holes).Drive slow average speed in car 30 Kmph, on bike 50 kmph.Very less streches of good tarmac
Matthur-Uthangarai - Chengam : Comparitively lesser no of VEHICLE breakers, but mind you they come suddenly after a good stretch of tarmac.WATCH out for them. GEt your breaks tuned.heheheh.
Average car speed : 50kmph , Average bike speed : 60 kmph
Chengam-TV Malai : A couple of years back this was the consolation patch with consistent tarmac on this dreaded Highway, but alas no more.Its condition too is bad.Watch out for the Vehicle breakers.
average car speed : 40 kmph, average bike speed : 60 kmph.
TVMalai- Tirukoilur : take the bypass new route, BRILLIANT ROAD SH9.Drive to this town is a BREEZE.Average speeds can easily touch 80 Kmph in both forms.Don't get the locals to drive/ride you into the Manalurpet section.The road here is not good for cars.Remember to take Bypass route out of TV malai to Tirukoilur.
Tirukoilur - Panruti : SH9 continued, poor road conditions.Vehicle breakers make some special appearances.Watch out.Its a scenic drive/ride.Agri fields ...watch out for people on the highway with the Husks laid out on the road.On the bike be careful, slightly slippery when u run through them.
Average speed , Car : 50 kmph , Bike : 60 kmph
Panruti-Vadalur : NH45C.This hwy better than NH66, but still in poor condition.Average speed car : 60 kmph (watch out for pot holes), Bike : 60 kmph.
From Vadalur there are 2 route you can take to Chidambaram.
Route 1 : Vadalur-Kurunjipaadi-Bhuvanagiri-chidambaram ( Ok roads, takes longer time as you ride through small villages inside) Take left at Vadalur junction when coming from panruti.Travel on cuddalore route for about 3 kms, take right into kurunjipaadi, and then at kurujipaadi junction take right again to drive/ride down to Bhuvanagiri and then to CDM.
Route 2 : continue straight on NH45C.After 15 kms you come to an intersection with SH70 ( place starting with name Siva.. or seetha.. couldn catch name a pretty long one).Take left here and proceed straight to Bhuvangiri and then CDM.This route was a faster one i thought, less town in between.Though after vadalur for around 5 kms the Hwy is not good.
Once you reach Bhuvanagiri-cross the bridge and proceed striaght to reach Chidamabaram.
On the Bike i completed this stetch in 6.5 hrs.Trust me that nothing eats up bad roads better than BULLET.TBTS rocks.
Anybody interested in taking the SALEM route, lemme know, i'll post a detailed route analysis for the same.
signing off
Ajith

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ajithnarasimhan

TVMalai- Tirukoilur : take the bypass new route, BRILLIANT ROAD SH9.Drive to this town is a BREEZE.Average speeds can easily touch 80 Kmph in both forms.Don't get the locals to drive/ride you into the Manalurpet section.The road here is not good for cars.Remember to take Bypass route out of TV malai to Tirukoilur.

Can you explain where is this by-pass. I thought there was no by-pass to this SH. When was this done, as you said its new.
This looks to be very good. The only one, I am aware off is the Giri Valam which would take you to the other side of NH66.